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Thorpe fastest qualifier in 200 meters

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Posted: Sunday March 21, 1999 11:28 AM

Thorpe came just .05 seconds away from setting the 400-meter freestyle world record Saturday. Al Bello/Allsport

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- Australian teenager Ian Thorpe will chase the oldest world record in men's swimming Monday in the 200-meter freestyle final at the Australian national championships.

Thorpe, 16, qualified fastest out of Sunday's semifinals for the event and will attempt to break Italian Giorgio Lamberti's 1989 world record of 1 minute, 46.69 seconds.

The new Olympic program, which includes semifinals in all events up to including 200 meters, means Thorpe will be fresh for the attempt. He won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in September in 1:46.70 an proved he is in strong form by going .05 outside Kieren Perkins' 1994 record for the 400-meter freestyle on Saturday's program.

Meanwhile world and Olympic 200-meter butterfly champion Susie O'Neill claimed a record-equaling 10th straight national title in the 100-meter event Sunday.

The performance matched Nicole Stevenson's run of 10 consecutive Australian Open titles in the 100 backstroke between 1987 and 1996.

Last month O'Neill broke the longest standing world swimming record, eclipsing American great Mary T. Meagher's 18-year-old time for the short course 200 butterfly.

O'Neill has won 31 Australian Open title and could equal Frank Beaurepaire's record of 33 during this week's championships.

 

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